Words cannot describe how sad I am at the news of first Etta James passing and then 3 weeks later the passing of Whitney Houston. My heart breaks at the loss of these two incredible, talented, and beautiful women! I love these women, their music, their stories. Rest in peace Etta and Whitney, you blessed this world with a gift no one ever will be able match. You inspired me to live big, love great, and push forward through all life’s trials and tribulations! You will both be missed and always loved. Rest in peace.

I found this lovely Christmas questionaire and thought I would post it to my blog.🙂

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? I drink more Hot chocolate than Eggnog, but I enjoy a cup of eggnog once or twice in the season especially with Baileys. Mmmm!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Psh….heck yeah Santa wraps presents! That is the fun of christmas gifts , tearing open the paper!!!

Me, I was 6, unwrapping my christmas present! (1996) Don

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored lights go on the tree, white lights on the front of the house, and colored lights on the back deck.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I never have, but when I get my own place I want to start hanging mistletoe! : )

5. When do you put your decorations up? We put up our decorations the day after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Every year for Christmas Eve we eat soup burgers, a recipe that came from my dad’s side of the family! It is yum-o! Also my other favorite is the Cheese Ball! My brother always makes it every year! It is also yumYUM-o!

Soup Burgers and the fixings for it. Mmm...Mmm....Good!!!

FOOD FOOD FOOD!!!!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? My twin brother and I sleeping under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve!🙂

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I do not really remember ever truly believing in Santa. We just thought Santa was a secret stranger who anonymously brought us gifts. : ) lol

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We do our whole Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve! And then on Christmas Morning we open our socks.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Our whole family does it together! My mom and sister always did the lights while my brothers and I would fluff our fake tree! Then we would all get the ornaments and we each had certain ones we would hang. The fluffy fabric ornaments always went on the bottom so cause they wouldn’t break when our cat would paw at them.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Now that I am a working lady I dread it because I have to drive in it, but all growing up I love LOVE loved it!

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family, family holiday recipes, family traditions!

My Family (except Mark, my brother-in-law was at work and so he couldn’t be in the picture.)

My Parents – Matthew & Carol

My Oldest Sister and her family – Leah, Jason, Benson, Jaylee, and their dog Chloe

My oldest brother and his wife – Bryan and Ashley

My older sister and husband – Laura and Mark (Mark was at work so we couldnt get their family ugly christmas sweater picture) Laura was pregnant in this picture and then a week and a half later she had her baby, MJ!

MJ!!!!! My handsome stud of a nephew!

My twin and I – Bennett and me, Brielle

My lovely Grandma Schulze! I love her so!🙂

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? My mom’s peanut clusters!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Every year as a family before we open our gifts my dad reads the Christmas story out of his bible and then we would read together out loud A Cup of Christmas Tree.

17. What tops your tree? A white angel that is super old and in her hands there are 2 lights that light up when you plug her in.🙂

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I mean who doesn’t enjoy receiving things, I do!!!! But I prefer to give, I have so much more fun giving than receiving. Giving is my love language.🙂

SWOON!!!!! I love LOVE love this movie!!! Watch it if you have never seen it!

21. Saddest Christmas song? Um, “Christmas Shoes” hands down. I can’t even listen to it. AND it has a book to go with it, depressing!
“He said, I wanna buy these shoes, for my mama, please. It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size. Can you hurry, please? Daddy says there’s not much time. You see, she’s been sick for quite a while and I know these shoes will make her smile and I want her to look beautiful, if mommy meets Jesus tonight.”

Ok…ok…ok….there is this lady who is quite incredible actually more like incredibly fantastic!!! Her Name is Kaelah and she lives in Tennesse. She was one of my very first blogs that i officially followed on a daily basis. I love her and haven’t even met her. Ahhh…the joys of the internet.🙂 Anyways…. Kaelah is having this fabulous giveaway… She is giving away and Ipad 2! Check it out here.

She is amazing! Don’t only check her out cause of her amazing giveaway, but more so check her out because of her incredible gift of writing, her adventures, her adorable puppies, her cute story of love and romance with her fiance Mike, her GORGEOUS BEAUTIFUL style, her great drink concotions, her wonderful TILT posts, and her spunky and adorable and sometimes just down right funny blog titles.🙂 She truely is lovely inside and out. Kansas sort of has a big fan club for this lady. She is like the biggest celeb blogger that i follow. She is sort of rad. Check her out, seriously do it!!! I love her and i am sure you will fall in love with her too!🙂 Enjoy!

A. Age: 21B. Bed size: Queen, isn’t there a better question for the letter B?C. Chore that you hate: mowing the lawnD. Dogs: I wish!!!! I wish I had any kind of pet. Maybe I’ll get a fish!E. Essential start to your day: picking what ring and earrings to wear for the dayF. Favorite color: My entire life it has been purple, but lately I have been LOVING grey and yellow and orange. Yeah yeah yeah hate me for being trendy.G. Gold or Silver: both!H. Height: 5’ 3”I. Instruments you play: I wish.J. Job title: Legal AssistantK. Kids: nope, thank the heavenly Lord above!L. Live: GardnerM. Mother’s name: CarolN. Nicknames: Relly, B, Brell, Bri, B SmellyO. Overnight hospital stays: NEVER!P. Pet Peeves: chalk boards, slow drivers in the fast lane, people who don’t use their blinkers,Q. Quote from a movie: oh sheesh there are so many good ones… here is a corny but good one…. A Walk To Remember: Landon “Jamie saved my life. She taught me everything about life, hope, and the long journey ahead. And I’ll always miss her. But her love is like the wind. I can’t see it. But I can feel it. I’ll always remember. It was late afternoon. It lasted forever. And ended so soon.”R. Right or left handed: right handedS. Siblings: 2 sisters, 2 brothers (one of which is my twin), 2 brother-in-laws, and 1 sister-in-law. So… 4 brothers + 3 sisters = 7 siblings.T. Tacos or Twizzlers: sorry, can’t choose they are both wonderful.U. Underwear: I hope so.V. Vegetable you hate: broccoliW. What makes you run late: sleepX. X-Rays you’ve had: left ankle, left knee, right foot, and right shin. So, basically the entire lower half of my body.Y. Yummy food that you make: tuna fish!Z. Zoo animal: platypus

Well I sure haven’t blogged in a while, so let me give you the usual excuse…..life has been hectic. I’ll give you an outline/bulleted list, sound good?

I moved with my twin brother and my parents from Baldwin City to Gardner at the beginning of July. Therefore, all of June was filled with pack the house and prepping to move. June was a crazy month to say the least, but it was full of beautiful change.

July came and as I stated the first weekend we moved.

The second weekend my family and I went down to Wichita to celebrate my older brother Bryan being ordained as a pastor. You can just call him Rev now, no big deal. (pictures are from my sister-in-laws blog, Ashley Dunham. Check her blog out she is such a cutie!)

The third weekend was my birthday weekend. I turned 21, crazy I know. I had a wonderful weekend celebrating with my best friend, Ainsley and some wonderful friends.

The fourth weekend I helped take part in throwing a surprise birthday for a wonderful close friend of mine, Stormie Colvin. She is lovely and her birthday July 15th just one day after mine. She turned 18 and is wise beyond her years. I love this girl! Her and I went on a date Saturday afternoon to the miniature toy museum, lunch on the plaza, and a stop at a pet shop to enjoy some cute little puppies. Then, I took her to Hope Alive to her surprise party. It was a blast, full of pictures, food, and love/appreciation for Stormie.

The fifth weekend in July I went up to Manhattan, KS to help my older sister Laura and her husband Mark organize their apartment. They are expecting a beautiful baby boy in December 2011. They wanted some help in organizing their life to welcome this bundle of greatness. So me and Ainsley drove 2 hours to them and enjoyed organizing, cleaning, and hanging out with my wonderful siblings.

Now we are to August, which has been somewhat uneventful. The first two weekends I have been helping my mother at Moonlight Elementary setting up her fourth grade classroom. It is some serious hard work, being a teacher is hard. But it was fun hanging out with my mom and helping her get stuff done.

It is Tuesday and before I know it will be the third weekend of August. What do I have planned for this weekend you ask? Well on Thursday I am leaving work early to get my wisdom teeth removed. It is going to be intense, because my teeth are unlike most people who get theirs out while their wisdom teeth are still under the gum or just slightly broken through the gum. My wisdom teeth have been coming in for a little over 3 years. So they are currently sitting just as tall as my molars. Therefore my roots are WAY too deep. So it’s going to be a little more intense of a recovery I suppose, which sucks, but whatever. I got to do what I got to do, you know?

Well there you have it another Update Schumpdate! J So until next time when I post about something other than catching up my blog up, have a wonderful end of the summer and say a few alliterations in a day it will make you smile more. Tah Tah for now!